I TRUST that it has come to your attention that the early morning traffic situation inbound to the west of Gloucester has deteriorated dramatically since the end of the school summer holidays and the start of the new school term. The impact has been to increase journey times to even longer than they were before July.

I travel daily from Cinderford to Barnwood in Gloucester and during the school holidays my journey took just over 30 minutes. The same journey, even leaving home 30 minutes earlier than I did, now regularly takes 75-80 minutes. Even before the start of the school holidays, that journey rarely took more than 60 minutes. The traffic now starts to queue at Minsterworth Parish Hall, whereas before July it rarely backed up beyond the 'Apple Tree' pub.

There has been some coverage in the local press about changes proposed to alleviate the traffic congestion, and I would like to know how these proposals are progressing. One recommendation was to remove the cross-hatching on the A40 outside Linton Lodge, which seems eminently sensible, and surely takes very little time and effort to effect. At present, a single file of traffic on the A40 and a single file on the A48 join forces at the Highnam Roundabout, and after 200 yards of side-by-side coexistence (usually less because most motorists immediately move into the outside lane to save having to force their way back in) are squeezed into a single file and then merge with traffic from the B4215 from Newent – no wonder there is congestion at this point.

A second proposal was, I believe, to open up a third lane at the approach to the Over roundabout on the A40, and I would be interested to know what statistical surveys have been carried out to support this. Would this widening include the exit from the roundabout on to the Northern by-pass? I find that once on this – albeit single-carriageway – stretch of road, the traffic flow generally improves, as the congestion is due to traffic trying to get round the roundabout in two lanes.

I would consider using the bus service, except that:

1) I'm certain that removing just my car from the queue would not improve the journey times for the buses, which have recently been re-timetabled anyway to start earlier from Cinderford (presumably in the vain hope that they might arrive in Gloucester within 15 minutes of the advertised time).

2) The buses are already full during school term times, and I doubt whether extra buses would be added to the timetable to cope with the additional passengers should a large number of people be encouraged to leave their car at home and use a public transport option.

3) There is no bus through to my workplace at Barnwood anyway.

The roads seem unable to cope with both cars and buses. Has consideration been given to re-opening railway facilities at Grange Court on a park and ride basis?

David Oatley

Cinderford